Despite being available across the US, in-flight Wi-Fi is virtually unheard of in Europe and the UK.
All that, however, may be about to change. Satellite company Inmarsat is planning to work with 4G providers to build an air-to-ground network for getting air travellers online.
The proposed scheme will handle data traffic in the same way that companies such as Gogo (and soon AT&T) do in the US.
A recently built satellite called Europasat will also provide support from above, making sure there is no disruption to the connection as a plane pairs with different cell towers along its route.
Inmarsat also expects the new satellite will support “emergency network services for public protection and disaster relief.”
The EU-specific network isn’t expected to be up and running until the end of 2016, but British Airways has already expressed interest in being a customer.
There’s always a chance European airlines could use Inmarsat’s global satellite-only network, due to go live at the end of this year, to offer in-flight Wi-Fi even sooner.
Either way, it looks like it won’t be long till us Europeans are surfing the web in the sky like our US counterparts.
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